This invention relates generally to door latches and more particularly to faceplates for door latches which are interchangeable and may be used to adapt a standard door latch to a variety of common door preparations.
A high percentage of doors are made today with factory prepared cavities already formed at or near the door edge. This allows rapid and easy installation, by relatively unskilled workers, of such doors in buildings during construction or remodeling.
Commonly used latches, however, may have one of a variety of faceplates more or less permanently attached to the latch housing by staking or resistance welding. Therefore, it is necessary to have on hand latches with faceplates compatible with any one of a number of prepared door latch cavities; for example, sharp cornered mortise, round cornered mortise, and circular. Of course, slight size differences may be available in all latch types.
In order to accommodate the variety of possible door preparations without maintaining a stock of latches three or more times as large as required by the project, it is necessary to determine the type of door preparation before procuring the latches. This may delay completion while waiting to obtain the correct latches. Changing faceplates, to adapt the latches to door preparations, damages welded or staked faceplates during removal and requires complex and costly tooling. In any case, the cost of the project increases and completion is delayed.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present door latches and methods for adaptation of such latches to a variety of door cavity preparations. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.